Is Your Motorbike on Fire?

Two Men Caught Stealing Pets to Sell to Bali’s Dog Meat Restaurants

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(5/3/2014)

The widespread practice of poisoning and stealing pet dogs to supply meat to dog meat vendors in Bali suffered a small, but symbolic, setback on Wednesday, April 30, 2014, when two “dog butchers’ were caught by police and local citizens.

As reported by Metrobali.com, Putu Gede Umbara (18) of Banjar Sarikuning and Komang Santika Jaya (20) of Banjar Ketimun were circulating on a motorcycle at 1:00 am using poisons concealed in meatballs lure dogs and a sling to garrote and drag the animals stolen from local households.

When the two men tried to take make off with the pet retriever of Komang Ardana, a 28-year-old resident of Banjar Ketimun and an active police officer assigned to the Jembrana police precinct, their dog-stealing enterprise began to unravel.

Alerted to the poisoning and killing happening in the neighborhood, Ardana left his house in the early hours to inspect the surroundings and check on his pet dog. Seeing the off-duty policeman, the two men tried to escape on a motorbike with Ardana and neighbors in hot pursuit. While fleeing, the men flung a freshly killed dog they were draging to the edge of the roadside and then crashed their motorbike into a nearby ditch compelling them to try to run from the angry citizens on foot.

The posse set the motorcycle on fire with the two men taken into custody by police a short while later.

Charged with stealing under the Indonesian criminal code (KUHP 363, paragraph 4 e) the two men could be imprisoned for up to 7 years upon final conviction.

Interrogated by police, the two men admitted to similar offenses committed 15 times in the past. The stolen dogs were sold to “RW” stands serving dog meat from between Rp. 40,000 to Rp. 60,000 each (US$3.50 –US$5.25).